Social media is one of the most important means of communication currently. Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp have connected people globally like never before. Social media is used for personal communication and also for business communication.
The effects of social media can be good and bad.
Good effects of social media
The good effects of social media include
- Social media has become an excellent means of communication. We are connected to all our friends and family and also our business contacts through one or the other of the media.
- Information sharing has become easy and simple with the help of social media. Pictures, videos documents are easily shared across the media.
- Information can be easily shared which can be helpful. Criminals can be easily tracked by someone having recorded the activities or taken pictures of incidents.
- People are more conscious of what they portray in the public. Everybody tries to be at their best at least on social media.
- Everyone tries to own a smartphone to be able to be present in the ‘Society’ in one of these media. So smartphone sales have increased.
- Communication can be made in real time. A movie ticket can be easily shared between all the goers in an instant and waiting for all before checking in becomes unnecessary.
- It is easy to participate in an event, either social or business with the help of social media even at a distance.
- It is easy to keep in touch with the events in the family, how your cousins and nieces and nephews grow is almost a daily exchange. Even if you meet after many years there are no surprises.
Bad Effects of Social Media
Bad effects of social media include
- Rumours are easily spread by social media.
- Sensitive information can be easily made public
- Social media often make us privy to too much personal information of others.
- There is an element of Narcissism that is being seen in people, where they want to share information and pictures about themselves glorified.
- The communication on these media is not a replacement of the real interactions. The real interactions however have gone down a lot because of the electronic interactions.
- Fraudsters find different avenues on social media to carry on frauds.
- People are constantly on their phones or laptops to keep themselves updated. They have much less time to live the real life around them. It’s like an addiction.
- Since everyone is assumed to be constantly online, sometimes when a person isn’t online for a long time, he runs the risk of being labelled uncommunicative or irresponsible.
Conclusion
Social media are important channels for communication and information broadcasting. However it is important to use them responsibly.
By Janhavi
EdgeArticles 